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Arsenal can forget Aubemeyang – Yarmolenko anyone?

All the latest Arsenal transfer rumours have been saying that the Gunners had made PIERRE-EMERICK AUBAMEYANG their top target for the summer, after the Gabon international’s incredible season at Dortmund where he has already scored 32 times in this campaign.

But the 26 year-old has made it clear that he has no intention of moving to the Emirates in the near future, and has only recently extended his contract at the Bundesliga side. But he did admit that if he was to move in the future, there is only one destination he would consider. “Dortmund is a football-crazy city,” he said yesterday. “During the past few years we have had the highest attendance average in the whole of Europe.

“It’s a safe city to live in and my family are very settled – they feel right at home.

“I’ve never hidden my dream to one day play for Real Madrid, but I have extended my contract with Borussia Dortmund until 2020 for a reason. I feel very happy here.”

So Arsenal fans can definitely stop dreaming about that superstriker coming to town. I must admit that I doubted whether Arsene Wenger would have even contemplated any player at that price anyway! How many bingo bonuses would Le Prof have had to win to pay the asking price?

Another European giant that Arsenal have been linked with since January is the Dynamo Kiev star Andriy Yarmolenko, who scored the winner for the Ukraine in the 1-0 friendly success over Wales on Monday night. Yarmolenko 26 has been linked with a £22million switch to the Emirates and now his international boss Mykhaylo Fomenko has told his star to jump at a chance to play in the Premier League.

Fomenko said: “If he is wanted by the top English clubs then yes he can show his best in the Premier League and he must do this.

“He is the leader of our team and leader of our squad.”

Yarmolenko may not score as many goals as Aubemeyang, but he is only half the price (and is a lot easier to spell!). He is also an inspirational player and if there is one thing that Arsenal need now, it is a leader on the pitch….

Its not even summer yet and we are already feeding our minds with stories like these when we’ll be fed with lots of it once transfer opens. I know you’re doing your job admin but i wont let it get to my head not even mind, the media will feed us stories that will even leave some fans here living on cloud nine..my point is don’t start now, let me enjoy my season of ups and down till the media start adding crazy transfer stories

Did anyone else notice Walcott yesterday?! I hardly saw him touch the ball twice or thrice. The fellow has lost all desire and hunger to win anything at all. Seems to be secured with the paycheck here at Arsenal and knows Wenger won’t sell him. So, he doesn’t even bother playing now. Just goes through the motions. To think that a few years back he was an automatic started in the England squad. No wonder players like Vardy are ahead of him now. Shambolic!

We have bigger problems to think about than transfer romours or are we the ‘NEXT SEASON’ club as people call us. 8games still to go and someone has already signed new players sold some and has a first eleven for the first game of next season!

I’m going to repost some old comments of mine on our transfer policy- because people still seem to have a very skewed view from the reality. For example, this article writer’s general attitude it seems- “I must admit that I doubted whether Arsene Wenger would have even contemplated any player at that price anyway!”
The move to the new stadium was done to compete long-term with the spending capabilities of not just ‘brand Utd’, but the addition of the oil money of Chelsea and then City. Obviously after being temporarily so skint that we had to sell our best players, mostly to our direct rivals, we weren’t going to be able to make an instant cash-splurge in many directions- when the stadium debt was paid off. However, in each of the last 4 summers we’ve now been able to sign a worldclass player: Cazorla then Ozil then Sanchez then Cech. It’s possible that we could soon be in a position to make multiple big signings each season- once the ghost of the stadium move has well and truly left us. Obviously, this season has been very disappointing- but we’re still ahead of City, of Utd, of Chelsea and of Liverpool. On the whole, the bigger picture is looking rosier- with, as I say, the greater quality of signings- which by the way concided with the two FA Cups in the last two seasons. I believe the public reason given for not spending heavily last summer was not infact the reality. The latest financial results which Arsenal have announced indicate a loss of £3.4 million after tax- for 6 month period ending 30 Nov 2015. This, we can assume is the result of transfer fees such as Ozil/Sanchez being outlayed- as these transfers are structured in payments over a number of years. You might say- we now have cash reserves anyway so this is no excuse, we could still have spent. However, there are newish financial regulatory regimes ie. complying within Financial Fair Play, that strictly prohibit this. I believe the reason provided of there being no better players available on the market was simply meant to serve as a public vote of confidence for the squad- to boost confidence and morale, a smart strategy for the impending new season which just kicking off. In the last 10 years, for the first 6 years our net spend on transfers was minus 48.8 million- having to fund the stadium, but somehow staying competitive nonetheless. The next/last 4 years with Cazorla, Sanchez, Ozil, Cech arriving- proven world class players (also on world class player wages) coming in- we’ve had a net transfer spend of 119.7 million- so the fruition from the stadium move is very evident to me and I am confident we have gone in the right direction and will be signing additional, more expensive, proven players (but we are playing catchup and won’t suddenly be full of Gallacticos). However, the change in transfer policy should be evident.

among all that well written and in many area’s factual statement was the mention of FFP???
would this be the FFP that both Wenger and the board at large were touting as the great “leveler” that would eventually break the financial Leviathans and eqal us all up in the race for PL glory ???
This would be the same FFP that was the supposed reason why foreign investment was shyed away from and why we were not spending big in any of the transfer windows?
Would this be the same FFP that has proven to be a real toothless dog and that NOONE else actually adheres to? the same FFP that was instrigated by a now proven utterly corrupt FIFA and has in actuallity never come into play??
Oh that FFP
That part of your argument is a waste of your words as it is no longer FIFA policy to enforce it as it is not in any way viable to do so and would also expose a great deal more of the inherent corruption in the FIFA machinery.
Its NOT a strictly enforced rule any more and to mark that point theres been no mention of it in Arsene Wenger or the boards Rhetoric in some time. It boils down to this, if we only buy in one key player per season we are NEVER going to be able to compete with the elite clubs and despite there being a few good points in your argument above its worth noting that only 11 million was spent last summer when it was as clear as the noses on anyones face that we needed a better spine up the middle of the pitch, AW has offered and given Theo a new contract at twice the wages he was on and he is without doubt the highest paid flop in the team. The club is there to make money for the shareholders of whome most are on the board its NOT a club run as a footballing concern but a financial concern to make money so dont tell me that the club is going in the right direction cos were are not we are static and will remain so until the board take an interest in football rather than shares and dividends.

Appreciate the considered reply. I was worried I might get a “Wenger is a retard” like I saw in another article today. I think in a sense, we have gone in the right direction- steadily closing the gap to Man City, Chelsea, and Manchester Utd through a new found ability to sign proven, more expensive players- which is the crux of my argument I guess. Unfortunately, although that’s meant recent FA cup success, it just so happens that this season that just means being the best of a bad bunch, and it still hasn’t resulted in a league win. This season is an anomaly I feel though, in terms of one of the less financially powerful clubs winning the league, so IMHO we are in a far better position than we would have been if we hadn’t built a new stadium. The stadium move meant a barren few years- the frustration amongst fans is far, far higher because of those years, and I don’t believe it should be. I also think any other manager would not have kept us in the Champions League during those dark years. I take your point on FFP – a bit of an irrelevant point.